The leaders of Pakistan and China on Tuesday urged the international community to swiftly send humanitarian and economic aid to Afghanistan, backing a similar U.N. call made just 24-hours earlier.
A government statement seen by AP said Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed Afghanistan by phone, saying afterward international help is needed “to alleviate their suffering, prevent instability” and rebuild after the chaotic United States withdrawal in August allowed the Taliban terrorist organization to grab power.
Pakistan and China are longstanding allies. Both seek diplomatic channels to push the world community to unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets to enable Kabul to avert the deepening crisis, as outlined by the U.N. and its subsidiary Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Currently, the Taliban government does not have access to the Afghanistan central bank’s $9 billion in reserves, most of which is held by the New York Federal Reserve.
As Breitbart News reported, last month the U.N. announced it has collected $1 billion in pledges for humanitarian relief in Afghanistan, a sum far greater than the $600 million it originally sought.
The Biden administration alone chipped in $64 million of taxpayer funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
As the money flowed towards Kabul, the Taliban continued to show its priorities by gleefully parading the $64 billion in military hardware it seized from the U.S. and Afghan military during President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal.
At the same time U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the world must send even more money to the country to prevent starvation.
“One in three Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from. The poverty rate is spiraling, and basic public services are close to collapse,” he told a fundraising conference in Geneva last month.
“The people of Afghanistan need a lifeline. After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour,” he cautioned.
Guterres went further and called on the international community to “make cash available to allow the Afghan economy to breathe.”
That plea would require reversing decisions by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Western governments to freeze Afghanistan’s assets and suspend assistance programs after the Taliban overthrew the elected civilian government.
AP contributed to this story
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.